1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character input apparatus used for entering, for example, character data such as alphabets, hiragana, katakana, alphabetical characters, and numeral strings simply.
2. Description of the Related Art
The character input apparatus has been used for various electronic apparatuses such as personal computers, portable phones, and game machines.
A key board apparatus is used for character input in a personal computer. A key board apparatus has a plurality of key tops arranged according to the predetermined specification. In the case of the key board of this type, 26 alphabets (alphabetical characters), kana characters, numerals, and symbols are assigned to respective key tops. In the case of a key board apparatus used for a personal computer, usually many key tops are arranged, the input of an alphabet is carried out by selecting alphabets assigned to respective key tops successively.
The portable phone is used as a means for communication with other persons, and communication is carried not only by means of voice but also by means of character. In the case of communication by means of character, characters are entered by operating desired keys of a portable phone. For example, “A, B, and C”, “D, E, and F”, . . . “W, X, Y and Z” are assigned to number 2, number 3, . . . , number 9 numeral keys respectively. In the case that “E” is to be entered, the number 3 numeral key is pushed twice, and in the case that “Z” is to be entered, the number 9 numeral key is pushed four times.
The exclusive controller is used for the television game and personal computer game in order to improve the operability. For example, characters are entered when a player name is entered when a game is started, when a conversation sentence is entered for dialog game, or when a file name is entered for saving the game on the halfway. In such case, for example, the alphabetical character data is displayed on a screen, a cursor that indicates the selectable position is moved to the character data by operating a direction key of a controller, and input operation is carried out.
However, the above-mentioned conventional character input apparatus is involved in the problem described hereunder.
In detail, in the case of character input by use of the key board apparatus, it is required to secure a space for placing the key boagd such as a desk, and the key board cannot be used without space. Furthermore, it is difficult to enter the character quickly for a person who does not remember the key arrangement, thus the key board can be used by not everyone. Furthermore, in the case of character input by use of the portable phone, it is difficult to enter the character quickly because the key operation is required many times. Furthermore, in the case of the controller for game machines, it takes a long time to move a cursor to a desired character because the cursor is moved by operating a plurality of keys, and also it is difficult to enter the character quickly.